大象传媒

Chapter 15

I did not look forward to Christmas 1942 at all, for one thing, I was far too homesick and wanted to be at home to enjoy it, but it so happened that I was far too busy to think about anything else other than my work in the kitchen, the day was a great success as far as the kitchen was concerned, I never got my Christmas meal until 5pm and then in true cooks fashion I couldn't eat it all. The crowning glory was, though, at I2 o'clock when I was just drinking the health of Kit, I received a letter from her, goodness knows, how I blessed Kit for that letter. Preparations for the day had to be started several days previous. Mick was responsible for the decorations of the hall and very well it turned out, at one end of the hall a bandstand was erected and the other end he painted a huge old fireplace, this was really a masterpiece and looked for all the world as if it was a real log fire, even down to the flickering, on the far side of the hall was "Ye Olde Englishe Bar " from which the wine was served.

I was responsible with George Marfell for the kitchen work, it was no light task, we had to make two sittings of the Christmas lunch owing to the lack of accommodation, and this of course made things more difficult. The usual Red Cross Christmas parcels had not arrived so we had very little to work with, but were given 60 Indian parcels, which included some very useful commodities such as flour, dhal, sardines etc., and by collecting odd bits from here and there we were able to put on an excellent meal, many could not eat it at all.

First course was soup, made from split peas and milk; it did not take a lot of work except grinding the split peas up. Entree was baked bully with onions, peas and mashed potatoes obtained from the contractor. The bully was very tasty, we did it by slicing it up and laying it in dishes over a bit of cooking oil and some cold fried onions and put it into a huge old bread oven that we got working, a very good sized helping was served. The sweet took quite a lot of work, it was supposed to be a nut trifle, it was made from custard, macaroons, walnuts and candied preserved fruit and it was very good. The savoury was a Canadian biscuit and sardine cooked in the oven and served with a cheese sauce, this proved to be very tasty, in addition there were nuts and oranges on the table, Chianti and Marsala were served. Every officer had contributed a present of some description and handed out by Father Christmas during the meal. By the time the 2nd sitting had been completed I was tired out with the rush of things, but was very pleased that things had gone so very well. I went up to my bed to have a wash and change before having my own meal, thank goodness I did because the 2nd sitting wanted me in the hall and make a speech which I managed to dodge, my Christmas present was a quarter ounce of St Julien.

Boxing day was the troops Christmas dinner, I did the cooking for them whilst officers came in and did the serving, my part of the show was a success, but the officers part was not quite up to standard. In the evening a fancy dress dance was held, I didn't go myself because I detest fancy dress but I saw all those that did dress up, the dresses of some were absolutely marvellous however they thought of them I do not know. About half of them went as girls, some of course looked "real old bags" but others looked real good and could have been taken for girls, after the show they all paraded around the wings, I was in bed, several of the "bloody girls" coming along and kissed me goodnight. Wherever they got the stuff to make up their dresses I do not know but there were all shapes and sizes. For New Year we put on another big meal, which was much appreciated, this one included a Christmas pudding we concocted and turned out well.

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